Remembering 9/11

The outpouring of the generosity that followed in the hours, days and weeks after the assaults on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon five years ago today clearly demonstrated that the World Wide Web had suddenly come of age.

Virtually overnight the importance of this new medium became apparent. Yet none of the major disaster organizations were fully prepared. How could they be? Nothing this tragically awful had occured in those first five or six years of the internet's public life.

Sue Woodward, CFRE, was hired by the American Red Cross right after 9/11 to put the systems and procedures in place so that America's largest disaster relief organization would be prepared for mega-tragedies in the future.

That she succeeded is witnessed by the astounding effectiveness of the ARC's online systems following the South Asia Tsunami and Hurricane Katrina.

The Agitator asked Sue and her partner Dereck to remember back to 9/11. Their memories and insights, viewed through fundraisers' lenses, can be found below.